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Thomas Quine

['Member']Joined: July 23, 2020 at 21:44Last active: September 24, 2020 at 15:121 discussions84 comments
Location: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Bio

66 years old, working on my fourth degree, this time as an undergraduate in philosophy

Favourite Philosopher

John Dewey, William James

Favourite Quotations

“The important task of moving the world forward does not wait for perfect men.” - George Elliot

Discussions (1)

Comments

Hi Philosophience - your position is a very common one. I call it the "Thatcher/Reagan" position or the Libertarian thesis. Thatcher famously said, "T...
September 23, 2020 at 21:02
Actually there is quite a lot of work done on what constitutes human flourishing, and we should never rely on personal opinion on these matters, but r...
August 27, 2020 at 15:40
Well I said in earlier posts at the start of this thread that all moral systems appear to aim for this end, whether they express that explicitly and l...
August 27, 2020 at 06:05
I'm trying to go a little deeper. I see what you're saying, complexity requires rules. But I'm pretty sure you're not saying, the purpose of morality ...
August 26, 2020 at 21:21
Well, that's "how", but my question is "Why?" Why is it that we try to organize our increasingly complex systems of interaction?
August 26, 2020 at 20:02
Well we disagree about morality being grounded in natural biological imperatives, but perhaps we can move on from there. Do you think there is a capit...
August 26, 2020 at 19:56
Well I want to show that morality is grounded in the logic of the natural universe. In a nutshell, that logic says, "Persist or perish". That is the l...
August 26, 2020 at 19:37
I stated way back that just as "the market" is an emergent property of countless people engaging in transactions with one another, so morality is an e...
August 26, 2020 at 17:45
I was talking turkey. You suggested that the success of a species should be measured only by the extent of propagation of genetic material. This is a ...
August 26, 2020 at 16:27
Well science is all about evidence, and I think before you go to help a friend in trouble you should be sure you have reliable evidence that they are ...
August 26, 2020 at 14:58
I interpret your repetition of "as many offspring as possible" as implying mindless propagation, because you say that the only common objective of all...
August 26, 2020 at 03:11
Many people believe that life is hell but there’ll be pie in the sky when you die. This is a human aspiration for a better life, that seems impossible...
August 25, 2020 at 07:11
Obviously we are fitted with instincts right from birth like any other animal. Our instincts can provide subconscious guidance when confronting moral ...
August 25, 2020 at 05:38
It is possible that in classes on the philosophy of religion Divine Command Theory has nothing to do with human flourishing in this world or the next,...
August 25, 2020 at 05:22
Hi Pro Hominem, nice to see a Pro for a change instead of an Ad... I go to the species level not to make things complicated but to make them simpler. ...
August 25, 2020 at 04:30
) OK, I read the Harman piece very quickly, great article, great critique of utilitarianism, but again two problems pop up which all these philosopher...
August 25, 2020 at 03:48
Such a lot to cover in these recent posts but let me start with this. Aristotle defines the ultimate Good and goal of life, Eudaimonia, as “living wel...
August 25, 2020 at 00:32
OK, this is very useful, thank you for the references, dammit, now I have to go back and check what they say. Lots of philosophers talk about flourish...
August 24, 2020 at 16:33
The strategy every living species uses to propagate genetic material is to flourish. Every species has a different approach. Some fish and primitive f...
August 24, 2020 at 16:29
I think you are mistaking me for Isaac... Super busy today but will reply as soon as I can...
August 24, 2020 at 14:56
People consider something to be moral if they believe that in the final analysis it serves human flourishing. Their beliefs are not always justified. ...
August 24, 2020 at 03:01
I've been looking around to find anyone making the same arguments I am making here. If you can direct me to a source you are familiar with I'd be grat...
August 24, 2020 at 02:56
G.E. Moore, who coined the term "Naturalistic Fallacy", has a quote I like a lot: “…ow “good” is to be defined, is the most fundamental question in al...
August 24, 2020 at 02:11
Hi Tim - as I mentioned in an earlier post, people will consider something to be moral if they believe it serves human flourishing. They are not alway...
August 23, 2020 at 15:35
Hi András - this is an original approach of mine inspired by Aristotle and Darwin. It has no resemblance to utilitarianism apart from being consequent...
August 23, 2020 at 15:22
The universe proceeds along a recognizable trajectory, the laws of physics are called "laws", not because they are written in some universal statute b...
August 06, 2020 at 15:21
Tim, if I understand you correctly you believe that the evolving work-in-progress called morality is somehow not a product of the logic of the univers...
August 06, 2020 at 05:17
I would say if someone does something that hinders or sets human flourishing back, something that is detrimental to human flourishing, that would be i...
August 06, 2020 at 03:47
Well, most scientist agree that life exists somewhere else in the universe, because given an apparently unlimited number of planets, the conditions th...
August 03, 2020 at 19:29
I think you are right to see a pattern, to see human morality as just one expression of a deeper logic at work in the universe. This is a departure fr...
August 03, 2020 at 15:50
Sorry about your dog! I have said, and this as far as I know has not been remarked upon by anyone else, that the main difference between humans and an...
August 02, 2020 at 03:23
You are right, I am trying to marry ethical theory to biology. My critique of traditional ethical theory is that it has little or no objective groundi...
August 02, 2020 at 00:02
No, Eugenics assumes we know which human qualities best serve human flourishing, and it turns out, who could have guessed, the people who want to make...
August 01, 2020 at 04:55
Praxis, you are quite right to question the value of GDP, lots of work has been done on this to prove that economic growth can sometimes produce resul...
August 01, 2020 at 03:35
I said in an earlier post that the simplest definition of "to flourish" I could find in online dictionaries is "to grow or develop in a healthy or vig...
July 31, 2020 at 16:44
To the question, "Does mask-wearing during a pandemic serve human flourishing?", science can indeed tell us the answer. I provided evidence from scien...
July 31, 2020 at 16:31
It’s important to defend individual liberties, especially freedom of speech. I see diversity of opinion as a great strength of any group, a work team,...
July 30, 2020 at 23:12
Let's see if we can pick up the thread here. My assertion was only that mask-wearing was more conducive to human flourishing than to assert personal l...
July 30, 2020 at 17:58
You got me Isaac, I'm not a scientist. That's why I look to people who are. https://wapo.st/3fdqWXy
July 29, 2020 at 23:25
Like pretty much all moral systems, Divine Command Theory is an attempt to answer the question, "What best serves human flourishing?" For DCT, the ans...
July 29, 2020 at 16:05
This global pandemic is hell everywhere, but compare places where the pandemic is raging out of control at least in part because of a libertarian resi...
July 29, 2020 at 15:35
You're such a pussycat!
July 29, 2020 at 14:50
These questions are related to the free will question. I have heard some people argue that there is no such thing as free will, since our actions are ...
July 29, 2020 at 03:50
Praxis, I think you are underestimating the importance of the healthy flourishing of the host organism to the successful reproduction of the gene. A l...
July 29, 2020 at 00:55
Are you asking me to prove scientifically here in the forum that theft; murder; sexual abuse; pedophilia; breaking contracts; lying; corruption; slave...
July 28, 2020 at 18:27
If morality is an attempt to advance the cause of human flourishing, it needs to look to science for better answers. Not holy books, not convoluted ph...
July 28, 2020 at 18:09
Selfish genes seek to reproduce into the next generation. They do this by helping to create species that flourish.
July 28, 2020 at 17:42
Hi sime, sorry, did not understand the question, can you restate in a different form? Thanks!
July 28, 2020 at 17:27
I am saying that all moral theories attempt to provide rules that if followed will serve human flourishing. Religion follows that up with threats and ...
July 28, 2020 at 17:22
The Quran tells us: "...those who disbelieve, for them are cut out garments of fire, boiling water shall be poured over their heads. With it shall be ...
July 28, 2020 at 17:05